Saturday 29 May 2010 19.04 EDT
First published on Saturday 29 May 2010 19.04 EDT

Better known as "Jónsi", Jón Þór Birgissonis the singer in Icelandic ambient rock band Sigur Rós. His uniquely androgynous vocal style – the words a resonant blur of Icelandic and phonetics he calls Hopelandish – is the band's most powerful asset. Last year Birgisson began to strike out on his own, recording the Riceboy Sleepsalbum with partner Alex Somers, before following up with his solo debut, Go, last month. I spoke to him on tour, and he was relieved not to be anywhere near erupting volcanoes. "English people must be furious with Iceland," he joked. "First there's the problem with the banks and they lose their money, now they can't go anywhere because there's a cloud of ash over them."

MY FIRST MUSICAL MEMORY

Twist and Shout, the Beatles (1963)

When I was eight or nine years old I listened to my parents' vinyl records. I used to listen to this on double speed, so I was twisting and shouting twice as fast. My parents had a decent record collection and when I got older I explored it a lot more. But before that there was a phase when I got into Duran Duran. My first and only poster I had on my wall was of Andy Taylor, their guitarist. After that it was heavy metal – Metallica, Iron Maiden and AC/DC. I went from Andy Taylor to Angus Young.

WHEN I STARTED PLAYING GUITAR

Kill 'Em All, Metallica (1983)

My father gave me an electric guitar for my 13th birthday. After that I became serious about music. I started out by trying to play along to Beatles songs, but I wasn't very good. Then I was attracted to Metallica because they have so much power and you grab onto that when you're young. It's a primitive, animal energy. I feel happy that I grew up on heavy metal. I think people who haven't listened to it are missing out. Old heavy metal especially – the songwriting is really good. Years ago I went into 6Music for a radio interview and I bumped into Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. I confessed that I was a big fan and he didn't believe me. I think he thought I was making fun of him. It got quite awkward.

BEING YOUNG AND RECKLESS

Smeared, Sloan (1992)

This was a typical grunge record – melodic with power – and it reminds me of being young and hanging out with my friends, an innocent, fun time. I was in lots of different bands but we had one called Stoned. In England and America, everyone smokes weed, but in Iceland it was really taboo, people thought it was weird. So for us it was cool to name a band that, even though I had never smoked it and we had no idea about it all. We drank a lot of moonshine instead. Icelanders are bad drinkers. They don't drink during the week, only on weekends, then they get totally shit-faced and go over the top. So that was my teenage vice. Only on Friday and Saturday night, though. Not during the week.

BUNKING OFF

Lazer Guided Melodies, Spiritualized (1992)

I moved schools and one of the classes I signed up for was technical drawing, but only because it had drawing in the title. I didn't realise it would be so boring, so I used to go to the library instead. That was where I met the Sigur Rós boys, in the smoking room. We used to sit around smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee and that's how we found out we had similar music tastes. We used to listen to records together – the first Verve album, A Storm in Heaven, and Spiritualized. Both were an influence but Spiritualized probably more so.

GOING SOLO

All I listen to now is old jazz: Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt, Bing Crosby even. Billie Holiday has a big place in my heart. It's not just being moved by her voice, it's the sound of the records. I like anything that's old and scratchy. This album has all the quiet songs on it and there's a comfort factor that makes you feel like you're on a warm cloud or comfy sofa. You put it on and everything feels nicer. It's the kind of sound I might like to make when I get old. That would be really cool.